Can a LW-15 CAL-MULTI be used as a pistol lower??
- Thread starter Thumper
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Typically "Complete Lower" includes whatever receiver extension and buttstock they put on it. If the lower is built as a rifle, originally, then it can not be built as a pistol. If you do, you will be assembling a 'firearm made from a rifle' and if that barrel is under 16" you're afoul of NFA problems.
To build a pistol from an AR receiver, you have to start with a lower that has never been built as a rifle, before.
To build a pistol from an AR receiver, you have to start with a lower that has never been built as a rifle, before.
What I said before is the legal-eagle answer.
I am not telling you to do what you want with your receiver, but I've always had the question in my mind "How would they ever prosecute me on this? How would they know this was ever a rifle if it's a pistol when they find it?"
It's like 922r compliance. I don't know anyone who's gotten in trouble for having too-few USA-made parts in their AK kit build, and people with leagues more experience than me, like Jim Fuller, have said the same - don't know anyone being convicted for it... but that doesn't mean you shouldn't respect the law. It's the ATF we're dealing with, here.
This is not correct. Even if it had a rifle buffer tube on it, as long as it has never been BARRELED as a rifle, it may be built into a pistol. I would simply make sure that the FFL logged it in as other firearm, and showed it on the 4473 as a receiver.
Here is the ATF letter that supports this position.
http://www.guntrustlawyer.com/ATF%20Response%20-%20AFG%20on%20AR%20Pistol.pdf
In the event you are still nervous, I have LW-15 stripped lower receivers for sale, logged as other, that have never had any buffer tube on them. 
Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was the buttstock that made it the rifle, rather than the barrel. For instance: http://www.franklinarmory.com/XO-26_Letter__c_.pdf seems to indicate that a handgun that's over 26" OAL would be a "firearm" so long as it had no buttstock, and makes no mention of a /maximum/ barrel length, and as we see in the letter you link, there is no restriction on pistol barrel length, so conceivably it could have a 16+ " barrel and still be simply a "firearm" because it lacks a buttstock.
I guess maybe it's /both/ the buttstock and the barrel length that makes a rifle?
That's the way I understand it based on reading a few ATF letters the other day. Don't remember where I found them because I wasn't personally looking for this question. The way I read it was if you have a butt stock and then add a barreled upper to the lower, it is considered a rifle. Based on the definition of a rifle, the barrel is need as well as the butt stock.
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